The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) has set an ambitious target to reduce the turnaround time for vehicle registration to just one hour by the end of 2019.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the DVLA, Mr Kwasi Agyeman Busia, disclosed this to the Daily Graphic in an interview in Accra yesterday.

He was speaking after the executive of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) paid a courtesy call on him to seek partnership for the upcoming GJA awards ceremony scheduled for October this year.

The delegation from the GJA was led by its President, Mr Roland Affail Monney.

Diligence

Mr Busia noted that the DVLA had chalked up considerable success in reducing the turnaround time for the issuing of licence to drivers, but added that the focus was now to drastically reduce the time for vehicle registration.

"We are starting the pilot phase of that novelty by the fourth quarter of this year with the expectation that by 2019, it should be possible to take one hour break from work to register a vehicle without any challenge," he said.

The government recently announced a new tax regime that requires owners of vehicles that have 3.0 engine capacity to pay GH¢1,200 a year.

The DVLA was tasked to start collecting the tax on August 1 this year, a move that has been met with some reservations from the public.

Action

Touching on the new tax regime, Mr Busia said a committee had been set up, comprising officials of DVLA, Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Ministry of Finance to address all bottlenecks to facilitate the process.

He added that the authority had waged a relentless war to clamp down on the activities of middlemen who had gained notoriety for infiltrating the driver and vehicle licensing system.

Mr Busia added that the DVLA had started gathering reliable data that would help it engage other state institutions and stakeholders for national development.

GJA appeals

For his part, Mr Monney lauded the management of DVLA for turning around the fortunes of the authority, especially with the deployment of innovative technology that had improved service delivery.

He announced that the GJA had introduced the Best Road Safety and Transport Reporter of the Year for this year’s award and called on the DVLA to consider sponsoring that award category.

Mr Monney underscored the need for a closer collaboration between the GJA and the DVLA to help educate the public and provide relevant information to ensure safety on the road.